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ouncilor Paul Ferro strongly objected to the idea,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], as he has at past meetings. Ferro voiced concern that the measure does not clearly define economic development and as a result, the council could direct the funding to a variety of areas, such as the paving of a street near the industrial park.
"This is the most useless piece of legislation I have ever seen" while on the council, Ferro said. "It has no net effect."
The state Department of Revenue has reviewed the petition and said it appears acceptable, City Solicitor Donald Rider said in a Dec. 30 letter to the council.
Vigeant said he has heard a range of times for when the measure may be voted on - from a few weeks to the end of 2011.
The third and final step for the City Council is approving transfers, requested by the mayor, out of the special fund. Excess revenue not transferred out of the special fund would accumulate there.
Lorillard Inc., maker of the U.S.’s leading menthol cigarette brand, is engaged in a fierce battle to prevent the Food and Drug Administration from banning a product that accounts for roughly 90% of its sales.
Among the company’s tactics: buying up a host of menthol-bashing Internet domain names, including MentholKillsMinorities.com, MentholAddictsYouth.com and FDAMustBanMenthol.com.
Keeping those names out of the hands of critics is just one part of Lorillard’s multimedia campaign to thwart a possible ban. The fight’s next round is scheduled for next week,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], when a special FDA tobacco advisory committee is scheduled to meet to review data regarding menthol products. In March, the panel will recommend whether to extinguish menthol cigarettes altogether—including Lorillard’s top-selling Newport brand.
According to a Lorillard spokesman, Ms. Roy also arranged for Niger Innis, national spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], a civil-rights organization, to appear on radio programs in Chicago and elsewhere to discuss the menthol issue.
Mr. Innis says he’s against a ban because it could result in an underground market, “creating another vehicle of criminality in the African-American community.” And, “you are taking away a legal preference and choice for African-Americans.”
Harry C. Alford, chief executive of the National Black Chamber of Commerce,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], penned an editorial circulated by Ms. Roy in which he argued against a menthol ban. Mr. Alford says Lorillard is a member of the NBCC’s public-policy council,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], paying $35,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych],000 in annual dues to work with the chamber on issues of common interest. He says the editorial effort “was not in any way influenced” by the chamber’s partnership with Lorillard.
“African-Americans like their [link widoczny dla zalogowanych], and there is no reason why they should not be allowed to have them,” says Mr. Alford.
Such talk has angered some health advocates,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], especially in the black community. Dr. Louis Sullivan, who served as U.S. health secretary in the first Bush administration, says he is “very disappointed and very distressed” that some African-American groups are allowing “themselves to be used by tobacco companies.”
Carol McGruder,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], co-chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, labeled the black organizations in Lorillard’s camp as “front groups” for the tobacco industry.